Were you there?

Have you ever experienced a significant newsworthy, historical or cultural event first hand? ABC Open wants you to share your candid piece of social history with a photo and 500 words, for our March writing theme `I was there'.

Rock concerts, sporting events, royal tours, protest
marches. The building of infrastructure, the fall of a prime minister, a
turning point in time. We always see the official version of history from
the media, but what about the candid perspective from the person in the crowd;
the man who paved the bridge, the screaming teenage girl at the concert, the
child who attended the protest march- the person who was there?

The 11th November 1975 would have been a very exciting time for my mum. Heavily pregnant, she was probably pretty uncomfortable on that day with her overdue belly, not knowing that it would be another 5 days before I was born.

But for the rest of the nation, the 11th November 1975, is marked by one of the most newsworthy events in Australian political history; the dismissal of the Whitlam government. Forever etched into the minds of Australians is the image of an angry Prime Minister Gough Whitlam appearing before a large crowd on the steps of Parliament House, declaring the famous quote"Well may God save the Queen. For nothing will save the Governor- General."

Last year Dave McRostie, an ABC Open contributor from Naracoorte, pointed out that he was one of the policemen, standing behind Whitlam in the famous shot, as part of the Moment Behind the Photo project. In the crowd there were journalists, security guards, public servants, barristers and a legendary appearance by Norman Gunston. So how did the day unfold for all these people? What about the people behind the scenes, the taxi drivers, the cleaners, the tea ladies? What was the event like from their perspective?

Perhaps the most famous example of a `wisdom of crowds' news event, where an event has pieced together using the perspective of people in the crowd, their photographs and home movies, was the assassination of JFK. Onlookers handed in their home movies and photos to the police and CIA, so that a more complete picture of what happened could emerge.

Before the age of the internet and social media, history tended to only pay attention to the official version of events, the stock news footage, the official photo, and the factual write up. A candid photograph from the person in the crowd, somehow wasn't valid, professional or real enough to be included in the experience. But with the advent of digital photography and the speed of social media, citizen journalists have now become important first hand correspondents to the news cycle, particularly when it comes to disaster coverage.

Now that we have finally have the tools and the online architecture to curate crowd sourced images from some of these great 20th century newsworthy, historical an cultural moments, ABC Open wants you to dig into the family photo albums, and share your candid and valuable piece of social history.

Whether you were dancing in the front row at a famous rock concert,
distracted by a handsome stranger at the protest march, making cucumber sandwiches
for the function behind the scenes, or missed the whole thing because you went into labour, we want to hear your version of how a famous moment in time
unfolded. Hopefully with some of these stories, we will get multiple takes of the same event, the "I was there too!" factor, a notion that will make you never look at at the anonymous faces in a crowd the same way again!

Tell us your "I was there" tale, by uploading your story and photograph to https://open.abc.net.au/projects If you don't have an image submit your story anyway, and I'll find one for you! Give me a ring if you need help ph.5143 5570

1
Comment

Charles Davidson

I was working in the building in Exhibition Street opposite the Southern Cross Hotel in 1964, which was S A Cheney's Used Cars, and we were up on the second floor and we watched all afternoon I think, the Beatles appeared on there Balcony, we had a great view, even there were people up the trees, I don't think too many cars were sold that afternoon, a great memory.